Thursday, April 30, 2015

Winchester,
Ind. (April 30, 1972) Ralph
Latham made the return of Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) new cars to
the Winchester Speedway here Sunday a fast and exciting one as he won the 100
lap feature before slim crowd of about 2,500.

The race was the first for ARCA at Winchester, since 1964.

Latham, from Cincinnati,
Ohio, wheeled his gold and white
1972 Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the checkered flag with a three-quarter lap lead
over second-place David Dayton, driving a 1972 Camaro.

It wasn't all that easy for the popular Latham; however, as
he had his hands full with the veteran Les Snow and Bobby Watson until minor
mishaps eliminated the competition.

Latham trailed Snow for most of the first 74 laps. The
veteran campaigner had the right front tire on his 1970 Dodge shred at the 60
lap mark. Latham had run on Snow’s bumper since the 17th lap and eased around
the faltering Dodge in the 75th lap and was home free.

Three laps earlier, on the 73rd circuit, Watson suddenly
dropped from a close third with a broken fan belt after running nose to tail
with Latham from the 60th lap. Neil Sceva was third in 1969 Ford with Snow
hanging on for fourth and Ron Hutcherson, moving from a trial starting spot to
claim fifth.

The days only yellow flag came out on the 51st lap when Bill
Clemons had the throttle on his 1971 Hornet stick coming off the backstretch,
sending him into a third turn span. In maneuvering to miss Clemons' car, Ralph
Young put his 1969 Ford into the guardrail. Neither driver was hurt but both
were eliminated for the day.

The yellow flag was out for 10 laps, wiping out Latham's
chances for an ARCA track record for the distance. His time was 37 minutes,
42.01 seconds, more than 2 minutes slower than the existing mark of 35 minutes and
25.74 seconds set by Jack Bowsher in ARCA’s last appearance in ’64.

Bowsher's old one lap record on the half-mile high-banks did
fall however. Snow you raised the 20.20 second standard with the lap at 18.79. The
fastest qualifiers also broke the old mark.

Leonard Blanchard, who ran a strong fifth for most of the
first 75 laps before blowing a right rear tire, won the four-lap trophy dash in
1 minute and 16.55 seconds, another track record. Bobby Junior and Ken Black
won the first two heats with Latham moving from last in the eight-car field to
win the third.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Sedalia, Mo. (April 29, 1973) – Drivers from Keokuk, Iowa,
all driving Dodges, swept the first three spots on
Sunday afternoon in the annual Missouri 100, won in a record
time by Ramo Stott.

Stott passed veteran Ernie Derr with two laps to go in the
United States Auto Club event for late model stock cars on the one-mile dirt
track at the Missouri State Fairgrounds.

With some 6,000 fans looking on, Don White took third place,
two laps behind the leaders.

Stott won the $15,000 race in a record time of 1 hour, 10
minutes and 44 seconds, breaking the 1970 mark set by Roger
McCluskey of Tucson,
Ariz., driving a Plymouth, of 1 hour and 16 minutes. The
average speed of the race was 84.819 mile per hour.

The 100-miler was run without caution flags and provided Stott
his second consecutive USAC victory. He won the 100-lap feature at Knoxvilleon Saturday night.

Jack Bowsher of Springfield,
Ohio, led the first 57 laps
before his Ford Torino blew a head gasket.
Bowsher had earned the pole position by qualifying with a lap record of 38.17
seconds.

Al Unser of Albuquerque,
N.M., completed only two laps in
his Rudy Hoerr Ford before dropping out with a faulty oil pump. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner finished 19th at Knoxville.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

He’s hoping to become Wib Spalding, the profitable
owner of the Godfrey Speedway race track. Spalding, a native of Granite City, has
purchased the track from Clay Landon, the Speedway
owner the past six seasons. Landon, a former school teacher and coach, packed
his bags and moved to Arkansas.

Enter Spalding, age 45 and a weekly driver at the Speedway during the 1950's.
Wib’s web of intrigue begins tonight when the 1979 season gets under way at the
Godfrey track, located off Route 67 near Bethany Road.

Time trials are set to start at 6:30 with the racing show beginning about 7:30.

The Speedway
season will run through September.

During the Landon years, the Speedway kept a similar format; late model
stock cars, semi-lates and amateurs. Spalding will revise the system a bit.

“We have changed it slightly. Instead of the semis, we
are adding the sportsman class. And the amateur class is being changed to a
hobby stock class,” he said. The late models will remain the same.”

Why the switches?

“I don't think we had enough semi-late model cars so
by dropping that class, it causes the fellas to build more late-model cars,” he
said. "’The hobby (or street) stock class is practically the same as the amateur
class.”

Spalding said he also intends to keep some of Landon's
innovations such as: point standing charts in each classes, awards, mid-season
championships and end-of-the-season championships. However, he is phasing out
the “street car” special event because of possible insurance problems.

Presently, Spalding and his family are huddling in a
camper at the track. The Spalding's, who have been virtually living at the
track the past three weeks, make their residence in Granite City. Wib said be is working daily in
an attempt to get the track in suitable condition for Saturday's opener.

“We have had some problems caused by the rain in the
parking lot. But overall, it's in pretty good shape,” he said.

Admittedly, purchasing any racetrack is a gamble, but
Spalding likes the odds. He thinks the speedway can become a successful
business and pleasure venture.

“I feel that I know my drivers and this area
(Alton-Godfrey) is growing,” he said. “With the mall going in and everything, there
is even the possibility that we may make the track bigger.”

The oval speedway track is currently a quarter-mile.
“I don’t think we could make it into a half-mile track but it would be
comparable with that kind of track,” Spalding speculated.

The Granite
City (Tri-City) Speedway
track that Spalding drove on for a number of years featured a half-mile set up
until 1978, when it was converted to a quarter-mile ring. This season, however,
the Tri-City track is once again a one-half mile length oval.

Spalding was somewhat of a local legend during the
salad days at Tri-City Speedway. Spalding won several point titles and various
major races. He rates his championship in the 100-lap open competition race,
the final event of the 1977 season, as his biggest thrill at the track.

But Spalding's days go beyond the recent years at Granite City. “I ran two months
one season at the Godfrey Speedway during the 1952 season and I drove there in
1953. In fact, I drove there until the speedway closed,” said Spalding, a
carpenter by trade.

Although Landon helped to reopen the speedway during
the 1978 season, Spalding preferred to drive at Granite City. “I liked the big track in Granite City,” he added.

Spalding is crossing his fingers that he and his
fellow drivers will enjoy the new look Godfrey Speedway just as much.

Familiar names like Lou Janssen, Mike Hammerle, Jake
and John Sects, Randy Butler, Kevin Goss. Lou Thery and George Carroll, just to
name a few, are expected to continue motoring around the speedway track.
Spalding hopes to add a few more drivers, too.

“I have a lot of friends in this area and I know that
86 cars ran the final week of the season last year. I don't think we will lose
a car,” he stated confidently.

If that's the case, Spalding shouldn't have too many
problems adjusting his repertoire from speedway driver to speedway owner-driver.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Winchester,
Ind. (April 13, 1975) - After
blazing to a new world record for paved half-mile track in qualifying with a
second lap (103.681 mph) around high-banked Winchester Speedway, Bob Senneker
of Dorr, Mich., totally dominated the 100-lap main event for American Speed
Association (ASA) late model stock cars today, leave the second place car by
two lengths at the finish.

Senneker’s record smashing performance marked his second
straight win on the Winchester track, having won the rich “Dri-Powr 400” on the
ASA “Circuit of Champions” Series last September.

He dominated action in the 24-car feature event, racing past
really leader Jack Shanklin on lap 4 and steadily increasing the margin on the
remainder of the field from that point.

Senneker’s only serious challenger all day long was Larry
Moore of Dayton, Ohio, who also broke the old single lap
world mark of 17.93 seconds (held jointly by Vernon Schrock and Ed VanderLaan)
in qualifying with a 17.907 second lap. Moore kept Senneker in sight until he
blew a right front tire on lap 67, necessitating a pit stop.

Mickey Flora, of Muncie,
Ind., mounted a daring charge by
starting deep in the pack and fighting his way to third position in a blue
brand-new Ford Falcon out of Jody Ridley’s shop in Chatsworth, Ga. A broken
distributor gear sidelined him at 36 laps.

Behind Senneker and Moore, however, was a scrap for position
throughout the race involving Carl Smith, Harold Scott and Moose Myers. Smith
finally took charge until the post race inspection revealed he was short of the
required weight, resulting in a post-race disqualification.

Smith's misfortune elevated Scott to second in the final
standing, with Myers third; Dave Sorg fourth and Don Keevan in fifth.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Winchester, Ind. (April 9, 1972) -Larry Dickson has served notice to his fellow USAC sprint car competitors that the winning combination for his Leffler Chevy sprinter has been found.

Dickson did so Sunday at Winchester
Speedway when he scored a seemingly easy and convincing victory in the 40-lap
feature event on the high-banked paved half-mile oval.

Starting from the pole position
Dickson throttled his beautiful dark blue sprinter past a strong but outclassed
field of 20 starters to gain his 35th sprint car feature win.

Following a restart, caused when
Roger West and Merle Bettenhausen tangled in the first turn at the drop of the
green flag, Dickson literally blasted past the field in record breaking time.

The time for the 40-lap feature
was 11 minutes and 27 minutes, 21 seconds better than the track record established by Rollie
Beale in 1971.

While being interviewed in
victory circle, Dickson revealed that it was Larry Dickson, the wrench man, and
not the driver who was the reason far the team's poor start during the first
three races of the season.

“I believe we finally have found
the fight combination for the car and we're going to be a hard team to beat
from here on out,” said the two-time national sprint champ.

“Probably the main reason for our
poor start was because I changed the chassis around, experimenting too much.
From now on I'll do the driving and leave the work on the car to Paul (Leffler
the car owner),” he said.

The large crowd that braved the
mud and cold couldn't help but notice the different driving styles of two very
familiar faces on the sprint circuit, that of Larry “Boom Boom” Cannon and
Johnny Parsons Sr.

Many ofthe same fans that
were viewing the activities on Sunday were also at Winchester last September when Cannon took
one of the worst flips ever seen in sprint car competition. The hair-raising
style of driving done by Cannon wasn’t to be seen Sunday.

Parsons turned in another fine
driving performance in the Parsons-Meskowsi sprinter, capturing the 12-lap semi-feature
and finishing seventh in the feature.

Parsons is due to drive in the
Hulman Classic. Parsons entered the Winchester
race ranking fifth in points after a third place finish at Cincinnati, fourth at Harrisburg, Pa.
and ninth at Rossburg, Ohio.

The Parsons-Meskowki team looks
like a strong combination for the sprint car championship.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Oklahoma City,
Okla. (April 2, 1995) – Just when
it looked as though Mark Kinser and Danny Lasoski might take control of the
Spring Nationals and the World of Outlaws’ point race, fate and Jac
Haudenschild stepped in to turn the tide.

Kinser, the early leader in the point’s standings, appeared
to be on his way to his second victory of the young season Sunday afternoon at
State Fair Speedway when Haudenschild passed him for the lead on the 19th
lap. Injury was added to insult five laps later when the top wing supports on
Kinser’s #5m Wirtgen Maxim broke, sending him crashing into the turn three
wall.

The “Wild Child” kept his #22 Pennzoil Maxim ahead of the
field during the final 12 laps to claim the $6,000 first prize. The victory,
the 15th of his World of Outlaws career, pushed him into first place
in the Skoal Outlaw Series point lead.

Lasoski earned his third fast time award of the year after
pacing the 34-car field with a 17.210 second, 105.590 mph qualifying lap. But a
collision with Aaron Berry during the fast dash sent him crashing into the
retaining wall in the second corner. “The Dude” drove his backup sprinter past
eight cars in the B feature but failed to qualify for the main event. He
dropped into 11th in the point’s race.

Kinser, the fast dash winner, started the 30-lap A-main on
the pole. He burst into the lead as the green flag fell, and opened a
three-car-length lead within three laps. He caught the backmarkers by lap six.

The “Wild Child” caught Kinser midway through the race, and
challenged him for the lead at every turn. Kinser was trying to pass Terry
McCarl early on lap 19 when he slid out of the low groove in turn two.
Haudenschild took the lead, and opened up a 10-car-length advantage within
three laps.

Haudesnchild, who set a one-lap record on the semi-banked,
half-mile oval last March 27, raced comfortably ahead of the field during the
final six laps. He was eight car lengths ahead of the “Buckeye Bullet” Dave
Blaney when he took the checkered flag.

Preserving the history of Midwest Auto Racing

So much racing history has been made through the years right here in the Midwest.

From the rich dirt ovals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska to the paved short tracks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, some of the best drivers ever to get behind the wheel of a race car competed right here in the heartland.

We all have our own story to share about our favorite driver who thrilled us everytime they rolled onto the track or that one particular race that still stands out as the greatest they ever saw.

We'll go back in history, 10, 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago (even more) and reminisce about what has made racing in the Midwest so special for us.